The present invention relates generally to the field of battery charging, and more particularly to employing smart battery charging methodologies.
Rechargeable batteries are used to provide power to a variety of electronic devices, as alternate power sources for portable electronic devices, and as a backup power source for both portable and stationary electronic devices when alternating current (AC) power is unavailable. Some electronic devices may be powered by an adapter connected to a direct current (DC) source, such as a lighter receptacle in a car. While connected to a DC power source the rechargeable batteries within the electronic device may recharge. Typical portable electronic devices that contain rechargeable batteries include smartphones, cell phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, e-readers, cameras, recording devices, mobile test equipment, and mobile medical equipment. Some rechargeable batteries are a single “cell” and other rechargeable batteries (e.g., battery packs) are sets of cells configured in a series, parallel, or a mixture of both to deliver the desired voltage, capacity, or power density.
Some portable electronic devices, such as cameras and recording devices, typically have a more uniform power consumption, and the rechargeable batteries in these devices are readily swapped out and replaced with fresh batteries. The swapped-out, rechargeable batteries can be recharged by a user as needed. Other portable electronic devices, such as smart phones and laptop computers may have highly variable power consumption. The power consumption varies by the number of options on the electronic device that are active (e.g., global positioning systems, cameras, wireless communication adapters, number of active cores, graphics accelerators, etc.), and the activity of a user. Reading a document comprised of mostly text takes significantly less power than a high-resolution video game interacting with other users over the Internet. The rechargeable batteries for some electronic devices (e.g., smartphones, laptop computers, etc.) are more expensive and less readily swapped out. In addition, various portable electronic devices are exposed to a wide variety of environmental conditions during their transport or operation. A portable electronic device, such as a laptop computer, is likely to be attached to an AC power adapter to eliminate the power drain on the rechargeable batteries within the laptop computer when a user becomes stationary for a period of time and the user has access to AC power. While attached to AC power, the portable electronic device can also recharge the rechargeable battery. In addition, when a user of a portable device, such as a laptop computer, is at home, at work, or another fixed location for an extended duration, the user may recharge the rechargeable batteries via an AC adapter while the portable device is active, “sleeping,” or powered off. Portable electronic devices may contain rechargeable batteries that are smart batteries, smart charging systems within the portable device designed to operate with smart batteries, and the AC adapter itself may contain smart charging technology. Some portable electronic devices may have multiple methods to obtain power for operating and recharging. For example, a smartphone may be powered by a universal serial bus (USB) adapter or a power adapter specific to the make or model of the smartphone.